Activity 3.2 – Regenerative Agriculture Part 1

 1.0 Introduction to Regenerative Agriculture

Regenerative agriculture is a sustainable, alternative form of agriculture that focuses on soil health, animal welfare, laborers, and farmers (Patagonia, 2020a). This method takes organic farming and builds on it with the goal of sequestering carbon and in effect, reversing the impacts of climate change. In this way, regenerative agriculture attempts to work with nature to ensure that future generations may also prosper and maintain the ability to grow their food (Patagonia, 2020b). It has five major principles which include: 1) maximizing solar plant cycle, 2) increasing water cycle, 3) increasing nutrient cycling, 4) plant diversity, and 5) change of mindset (Envr Cowboy, 2019). This practice, which started with about 150 farmers in India, has proved incredibly efficient, but in order to see the necessary change to save our planet, there needs to be systems level change as well (Patagonia, 2020c).

 

2.0 Explore the Facts 

Soil, specifically the 6 inches of topsoil on our planet, is much more important than we may realize. It is those 6 inches which on which all life on planet Earth is dependent. This soil is capable of capturing and storing carbon from our atmosphere, but also releasing it in great quantities (Patagonia, 2020a). Our traditional industrialized agriculture, which separates animals and plants and therefore lacks the symbiotic relationship required in properly functioning ecosystems, contributes to carbon emissions through a number of was such as leaving the fields bare and tilling (Patagonia, 2020a). In fact agriculture alone is responsible for 30% of our carbon emissions (Patagonia, 2020a). Regenerative agriculture on the other hand helps replenish soil health rotating crops, using cover crops, decreasing farm size, and utilizing natural pest control to name a few things. 

Additionally, desertification is also leading to the emission of carbon from the soil and the rise of climate change. While this was though to be a result of too much livestock, it turns out that livestock is being used as a means to restore desertification lands, through moving herds of animals through the land in way that mimics nature (Savory, 2013). Although about 2/3rds of the earth is suffering from desertification, this process, called holistic management and planned grazing, is making incredible headway in reversing the effects of desertification and sequestering carbon. In fact, according to Savory in his TED talk, "How to fight desertification and reverse climate change", if holistic management and planned grazing are implemented in about half the world's grasslands, enough carbon will be taken out of the atmosphere and stored back into the soil, that it will take us back to pre-industrial carbon levels.

The bottom line is that our current agricultural practices are not sustainable, and at the rate the climate is changing, and the environment is deteriorating, solely protecting the environment as it is will no longer sustain us; we need to actively work to restore land before we are past the point of no return (Envr Cowboy, 2019). 

 

3.0 Outline the Causes 

The main issue we face is carbon emissions in the atmosphere, which can result from a number of things such as industrialized agriculture and desertification. Industrialized agriculture's most vital mistake was separating plant and animal farming. This eliminates the possibility for the two to have a symbiotic relationship and results in more greenhouse gas emissions. Animal farming results in methane emissions and bare fields and tilling kills beneficial microorganisms and result in carbon emissions from the soil (Patagonia, 2020a).  

Similarly, desertification is also a great contributor to climate change and carbon emissions. While we still don't know exactly what causes desertification, it is clear that the lack of migrating animals, interacting with the environment, perpetuates it. Areas experiencing desertification go through a humid and an dry season. During this dry season, plant must biologically decay in order for new growth to occur (Savory, 2013). Fire is a common solution to this, however, as you can imagine it also releases massive amounts of pollutants and leaves the soil bare to release carbon (Savory, 2013). 

This bare soil, whether it be from industrial farms or the complicated problem of desertification, is the main cause of carbon emissions.

 

4.0 Identify and Describe the Effects of the Causes

Carbon released from bare soil has a number of detrimental impacts in our world. It results in the decline in soil health which eventually can make the soil unfit to grow an increasing variety of crops. This also leads to the loss of biodiversity, and in effect, threatens our food security. The unregulated release of such pollutants from agriculture and desertification is also one of the main contributors to climate change. In fact, carbon released from the soil due to desertification contributes to climate change just as much as, if not more that fossil fuels (Savory, 2013). Looking further, effects such as hunger, poverty, violence social breakdown, war are also inevitable (Savory, 2013).

 

5.0 Investigate Priorities

The most important issues are unsustainability of industrialized agriculture and the worldwide process of desertification. Desertification is the loss of plant life in areas that experience both humid and dry seasons. It is an incredibly complex process which we still don't fully understand, but which has a hold on about 2/3rds of our planet's land (Savory, 2013). The bare ground that results from it is unable to retain moisture, therefore increasing runoff and evaporation, and changing the micro-climate (Savory, 2013). The carbon emissions released from exposed soil in industrialized agriculture and desertification, have detrimental effects on our environment. At this point even if we were to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, we are unlikely to be able to put a stop to climate change due to the impacts of these things (Savory, 2013). Although agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to carbon emission, it is also the only industry with the capacity to reverse that emission and draw carbon back into the soil (Envr Cowboy, 2019). However, the current input, output, waste product model, does not account for nature's complexity and ignores the ecological cycle (Patagonia, 2020a).

 

6.0 Delineate Application

 Under our current economy, we are constantly being presented with products of industrialized agriculture. As much as we feed off agriculture, it feeds off us. We keep these industries alive by buying produce, and as harmful as agriculture is, this is often not a choice for many lower income places and communities. We all experience the impacts, whether we're aware of it or not, though climate change. Since agriculture and desertification are two of the biggest contributors of carbon emissions, that means every hurricane we experience, every drought, and every degree increase in temperature is in some way the physical impact of these issues. Desertification specifically results in a change of micro-climate, which if seen on a world-wide scale, also has the ability to change the macro-climate (Savory, 2013). Eventually, if no large scale changes are implemented, we may end up with massive loss of life and an uninhabitable planet.

 

7.0 Challenge to Your Thinking 

Before this activity, I had no idea desertification was such a prominent issue today, nor that it contributes to climate change as much as, if not more than the use of fossil fuels, and accounts for about 2/3rds of the Earth (Savory, 2013). While I was aware that the agriculture industry was detrimental to our environment, I did not know why exactly that was, or the extent. Having not previously heard of or understood regenerative agriculture much, I am now completely sold and hope to see more of it in the future. This changed my thinking in the sense that I  understand the issues and their impacts better, but I already held a strong dislike for our current agricultural industry due to how detrimental and wasteful it is. It also challenged my assumption that fossil fuels were the main contributors to climate change: agriculture I could have guessed, but desertification came as a surprise.

References

     Patagonia. (2020a, July 29). Why regenerative organic? | Part 1: Big agriculture is broken [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUvabZSGbEk

Patagonia. (2020b, July 29). Why regenerative organic? | Part 2: Soil is the solution [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0VyuddRq88

Patagonia. (2020c, July 29). Why regenerative organic? | Part 3: What we’re doing (and why) [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfxp7eKuETo

     Savory, A. (2013, February). How to fight desertification and reverse climate change [Video]. TED 2013. https://www.ted.com/talks/allan_savory_how_to_fight_desertification_and_reverse_climate_change

     The Environmental Cowboy. (2019, June 29). A dry hope: Short film on regenerative agriculture [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFqtm2lwUFk